Recently started playing "the hook", index finger only, while practicing and noticed a couple of things.
I really thumped the notes out, more accurately if not a little slower. Kinda how I came to it. Working with a metronome I noticed that I was rushing certain phrases.
It also helped to identify where the accents are/should be. I thought that I was able to feel the bass line better.
Try it out.
There is a lot to be said for the single finger "the hook" plucking syle!
I got into it because of Jerry Schiff, who also is a single finger plucker! (I used to use 2 fingers.)
I agree with what Jerry says about that style. It covers about 90% of his bass playing and it covers about 98% percent of mine.
For very fast repetitious plucking, I find that I can pluck faster with a single finger. But, other little funky quick tricky lines, 2 fingers is a necessity.
It's interesting how the human brain works and certain bass lines that require double finger for a few notes, well the brain automatically knows when to go from single finger to double for the 2% of the time when needed.
I recently read that Jamerson's son said that his dad also used his "hook" to pluck strings upward and downward at the same time for passages where most bassist would use 2 fingers for quick parts.
That technique can also be mastered with time and practice.
Overall, single finger plucking gives a nice controlled and uniform volume and sound on the strings.
I'm sure many other bassist will take issue with single finger plucking but...............stand up bass players prove what the single finger can do!
Jamerson originally was a stand up bassist and maybe that's why he used single finger plucking style. It was truly amazing what he could do with "the hook"!
